Trick rope device



Jan. l7, 1961 R. G. TROMBLY I 2,968,117

TRICK ROPE DEVICE Filed April 6, 1959 Rf Z T M m M; E 1 w fi .oW w m m I n JZA United States Patent TRICK ROPE DEVICE Ray G. Trombly, Portland, Oreg., assignor to Great Western Toy Company, a corporation of Oregon Filed Apr. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 804,435

'4 Claims. (Cl. 46-1) This invention relates generally to self exercising and self instructing junior equipment designed to utilize a youngsters interest in the activity of an adult hero safely to allow the youngster a similar activity.

More particularly the invention relates to junior tools for the activities of a cowboy.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide for a junior cowboy a trick rope device with which much of the skill of the trick roping cowboy can be developed without taking the bodily risk to which playmates would be liable if the novel features of the present device were not included in the trick rope.

It is a second object to provide a trick rope with a handle rotatably secured on one end thereof whereby the rope can spin freely without having to turn over at the handle end.

It is a third obejct to provide such a trick rope with the end opposite the handle end held closely around the rope between its ends slidingly therealong to form a slip noose of variable size on the rope at its end opposite the handle end.

It is a fourth object to provide such a rope with stationary stop means secured thcrearound at a position therealong to prevent the slip noose formed on the rope end from closing to form a noose small enough to close on a childs neck.

It is a fifth object to provide such a rope with a hollow cylindrical handle including cooperating means formed on the adjacent ends of the handle and the rope swivelingly to attach the rope to the handle, the outer end of said handle being removably closed with a hollow inwardly open stopper.

It is a sixth object to provide such an inwardly open hollow stopper for a hollow handle in which the closed inner end of said stopper has an ink pad secured thereover.

It is a seventh object to provide such a stopper with a stamp disk for closing the open end thereof opposite the ink pad end said disk being cylindrical in outline to be lightly frictional secured in the open end of said stopper within said handle, said stamp disk having a figure simulating a cattle brand on its face next said stamp pad and a handle on its opposite face for handling said stamp disk and removing said stamp disk from said stopper.

How these and other objects are attained is disclosed in the following description referring to the attached drawing in which Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a preferred form of the rope device of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of the fragment 2 of the rope shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the handle of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the handle of a second form of the trick rope device of this invention.

Fig. 5 is a cross section view along the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a cross section view along the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Patented Jan. 17, 1961 ice Fig. 7 is a flat side view of a wire form used at 7 in Fig. 2, to form the noose forming the sliding end of-the rope device of this invention.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, a preferred form of the device of this invention is shown in Fig. 1 to include a length of uniformly sized flexible rope 11 with a handle 31 secured thereto at one end and with the other end of rope 11 looped closely around itself between its ends and held slidingly therealong by a wire clamp 7 pinched thereon.

It is especially to be noticed in Figs. 1 and 2 that the noose 12 formed in rope 11 by the sliding attachment to itself of its looped end 13, as seen at 2, is limited in minimum size by the stop 14 secured to rope 11 on the opposite side of loop 13 from handle 31. This safety stop 14 is of supreme importance to prevent the choking of a child whose neck might otherwise become confined within noose 12 when at play.

As seen in Fig. 3, handle .31 includes a hollow cylindrical shell 32 open at one end and partially closed at its other end to hemispherical form 33 surrounding a circular hole 34 larger in diameter than rope 1'1 and smaller in diameter than the interior of shell 32. The bandle end of rope 11 enters the interior of shell 32 through hole 34 and is axially secured into hemispherical button 35 freely slidable around the interior of section 33 of shell 32 within the lateral limits of freedom of rope 11 in hole 34. Rope 11 will strike the edge of hole 34 before the upper diametral section of button 35 can reach the edge of hole 34.

The open end of handle shell 32 is closed with stopper 51 formed with a circular top flange finger grip 52 of larger diameter than shell 32 to facilitate the removal of stopper 51 from shell 32. The exposed top surface of stopper 51 is decorated with any desired design 53 as shown in Fig. 5. Depending from the underside of stopper '51 is a hollow cylindrical flange 54 with the outer edge 55 of its depending end chamfered to aid in inserting the stopper 51 into shell 32. The outer cylindrical surface of flange 54 is a slight press fit with the inner surface of shell 32.

Shown within shell 32 in Fig. 3 is a circular disk shaped printing stamp, or pseudo branding iron, 61, on the upper face of which is formed a cattle brand or printing type 62 to be inked by being pressed into contact with deletable-dye pad 56 secured as shown to the flat under surface of stopper 51 within the depending cylindrical flange 54. On its printing type end branding iron 61 is reduced in diameter as at 63 to provide it with a slight retaining press fit with the inside diameter of hollow flange 54 of stopper 51.

The inner edge 57 of depending flange 54 of stopper 51 and the outer edge 63 of branding iron 61 are charn fered respectively, as shown at 58 and 64 to facilitate entering the stamp 61 into the stopper 51 either for storage or for inking type 62 from pad 56. An operating handle 65 for manipulating branding iron 61 is provided as shown.

To provide a device for younger children whose mothers would not appreciate the branding iron a lower priced device with the same rope handling facility that is had by the preferred de'ice above described, the device 41 of Fig. 4 includes a bell shaped hollow handle 42 the interior surface of which is enlarged from its small end to receive freely rotatably on its inner shoulder 43 the rope supporting button 44 into which the handle end of rope 11 is axially secured as shown.

A special feature of either the rope device with the handle of Fig. 3 or the handle of Fig. 4 is that the rope is swivel connected to the handle whereby is eliminated the need for the elaborate wrist dexterity required of the performer when a handleless rope is used. Thus with little training and little skill a youngster can spin the present rope device to jump vertically or horizontally through the spinning noose, to raise and lower the noose about his body on a vertical axis or any of the many more of the tricks which the so-called cowboys are seen to do on television.

It should be noted that the inks used with the branding iron are vegetable dyes which require no special attention when washing the temporary stains from clothing in a washing machine.

Having recited some of the objects of my invention, illustrated and described two forms in which I prefer to practice my invention and described the operation thereof I claim:

1. Means for protectively supporting a printing stamp and inking pad from the neck of a person usefully associated therewith, said supporting means including a cord and a hollow cylindrical cover open at one end to receive said stamp and said pad and at the other end to receive one end of said cord, together with means cooperatively formed on said pad and said one end of said cover removably to secure said stamp and said pad in said cover, means cooperatively formed on said one end of said cord and said other end of said cover swivelingly to secure said cord to said cover, means forming a slip noose on the other end of said cord and safety means formed on said cord within said noose to limit the minimum size of said noose to prevent choking said person.

2. A portable branding equipment comprising a branding stamp, a pad of branding ink, 21 first receptacle for said pad, a second receptacle for said first receptacle and said stamp and a flexible cord for carrying said second receptacle: said first receptacle being formed with an open end, a closed end, coaxial inner and outer radially spaced cylindrical surfaces extending from said open end toward said closed end and said outer surface being formed with a first annular rib limiting the extent of said outer surface toward said closed end; said ink pad being secured within said first receptacle on the inner side of the closed end thereof; said branding stamp including a disk shaped head with brand insignia formed on one side thereof and a handle extending coaxially from the other side thereof, said disk being formed with a first cylindrical outer surface extending from its insignia side toward its handle side terminating at a second annular rib at its handle side, said first cylindrical outer surface having a tight lit with the said inner cylindrical surface of said first receptacle and said second annular rib being smaller in outside diameter than said outer cylindrical surface of said first receptacle; said second receptacle having an open end with inner and outer coaxial radially spaced cylindrical surfaces, the inner radially spaced surface of said second receptacle having a supporting fit with the outer radially spaced surface of said first receptacle, said second receptacle having its other end formed with an opening therethrough to receive one end of said cord; said one end of said cord and the interior wall of said second receptacle including cooperating means for swivelly securing said cord to said second receptacle and said other end of said cord being secured around itself to form a loop slidable therealong to form a noose of variable size whereby the noose can be looped over the head of the user of the branding equipment to leave both hands free for manipulating the equipment for its purpose.

3. The equipment of claim 2 including stop means secured on said cord within said noose to limit the minimum size of said noose to prevent the accidental choking of the wearer of said cord.

4. The equipment of claim 3 in which said cord is long enough to form a child's lariat for catching another child before branding said other child with said branding equipment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 677,482 Worthington July 2, 1901 1,334,540 Jones Mar. 23, 1920 1,436,703 Fisher Nov. 28, 1922 1,976,288 Ludewigs Oct. 9, 1934 2,044,240 Daniels June 16, 1936 2,253,075 Johnson Aug. 19, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 3,091 Great Britain 2. 1874 11,528 Great Britain 1893 

